Silsbee athlete's final moments were an effort to keep a promise

An outdoorsman, the Silsbee senior wanted to go on a trail ride Saturday night in Kountze. His grandmother had approved, as long as he made it back in time for church Sunday morning. A man fiercely loyal to faith, family and friends, Myers agreed.

A text Miller received earlier that morning asking if Myers was with him proved to be the first clue that something was amiss.

"I was with him 95 percent of the time," Miller said. But this was part of the other 5 percent.

Shortly before 9 a.m. Sunday, Myers was driving his 2001 Ford pickup truck eastbound on FM 418, just west of Silsbee, when he attempted to pass a vehicle in a no-passing zone and was hit head-on by a Dodge truck. He was pronounced dead at the scene.

The two Silsbee seniors were going to find an apartment and be roommates after graduation. Myers was 48 days away from receiving his high school diploma.

Miller said Myers wanted to attend the Lamar Institute of Technology and get his degree in Process Operating Technology. The plan was for Myers to work at his dad's shop in Houston during the summer to help cover the costs.

"We had thought of everything," Miller said.

After learning of his friend and teammate's death, Miller couldn't function at work. He was allowed to go home.

The pair had spent two years together in the trenches of the Silsbee defensive line – brothers in arms. Every Friday they would go to Buffalo Wild Wings and stay until it closed, just talking about anything - faith, friends, the future.

"I'm really glad he was part of my life," Miller said. "His morals, his way of living, it rubbed off on me. Being around him made me want to be a better person. Now that he's gone, I feel like I have to be that person."